The Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998, which governs the consultation fees of private general practitioners (GPs), is set to undergo a review. Minister of Communications Datuk Fahmi Fadzil announced that Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad informed the Cabinet during its meeting today that preparations for a Cabinet paper on the matter are currently underway.

Fahmi stated that the Seventh Schedule of the Act, which outlines the consultation fee structure for private clinics, will be re-examined. A decision is expected to be brought before the Cabinet within one to two weeks. He shared this during his regular post-Cabinet press conference.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, has also instructed the Health Ministry to assess the relevance of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011, which is administered by the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, particularly in its application to the medical profession. This directive comes in the wake of reports that a group of doctors submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), voicing concerns over the requirement for private clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals to display medicine prices.

Some medical professionals, including the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), have expressed reservations about the applicability of the Act, questioning its use in the healthcare context. Fahmi said the Prime Minister has asked for the issue to be reviewed and clarified. The matters raised in the MMA’s memorandum were presented to the Cabinet, and the Health Ministry has reportedly taken immediate measures to support the effective implementation of the new policy on displaying medicine prices.

On the previous day, hundreds of doctors had gathered to hand over the memorandum to the PMO, opposing the application of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 to healthcare providers. While they supported efforts to improve transparency through price displays, they objected to enforcing this measure through legislation originally intended for retail businesses, pointing out that private clinics were already regulated under the 1998 Act.

Datuk Dr Thirunavukarasu Rajoo, the president-elect of the MMA, argued that the Act in question was unsuitable for healthcare regulation. The memorandum also highlighted the lack of consultation, noting that the MMA’s repeated requests for stakeholder engagement and a meeting with officials from the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry were ignored.

The protest in Putrajaya drew representatives from 15 medical associations, including the MMA, the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia, the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations, Malaysia, the Malaysian Association for Advancement of Functional and Interdisciplinary Medicine, and the Malaysian Private Dental Practitioners’ Association.

(Source: NST) 

• TAGS:
• Datuk Fahmi Fadzil
• Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad
• general practitioners
• GPs
• Medicine
• Price Control
• Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011
• Private Healthcare Facilities and Services Act 1998
• Private Healthcare Fees